It is hard not to feel some sympathy for Tomer Hemed.

The Albion striker is proud of his Jewish roots. He had a picture of himself on his Twitter account last month with the Star of David shaved into his head.

Hemed scored three goals for his country in World Cup qualifying wins against group lightweights Macedonia and Liechtenstein in October.

A chunk of his career was spent in Spain with Mallorca and Almeria - the club Albion bought him from for less than £1 million - so he was looking forward to returning to the country for Friday's World Cup qualifier in Gijon.

Hemed, together with many Israel supporters and pundits, was dismayed to be overlooked by Elisha Levi, the coach opting instead for Eran Zahavi as a 'false' No.9.

By the time the Seagulls' target man came off the bench, the damage was done. Israel were 3-0 down and ended up losing 4-1.

Now Hemed has damaged his international future by publicly criticising Levi for leaving him out. The coach has suspended him from the June fixtures against Moldova and Albania.

The question is what, if any, implications does this have for Albion and their promotion run-in?

Hemed's frustration at international level is sure to have been fuelled, to some extent, by what has happened with his club.

Last season he was Albion's top scorer in the Championship with 17 goals as they just missed out on the Premier League.

Then they brought Glen Murray back from Bournemouth, on loan initially and since January permanently.

Hemed (below) has gone from the main man to second choice target man.

The Argus: He has still made a good contribution, ten goals in 29 league appearances and leading marksman in the Cup competitions with three in four.

The difficulty for Hemed is he has only made 15 starts. Last season he reached that number by the beginning of November.

So he can be forgiven for thinking when he was omitted in Spain 'here we go again'.

He has made his frustrations known to Chris Hughton, but only behind-closed-doors.

That is normally Hemed's style. He is cut from the same, composed cloth character-wise as the manager.

Everybody has a breaking point, but there is nothing to suggest Hemed could become a disruptive influence in the tight-knit Albion dressing room, quite the opposite.

He is an unselfish and popular member of the group. The only evidence of any tension was a minor dispute with Murray over who should take the second penalty when Leeds were beaten at the Amex in December.

Murray had already scored from the spot, Hemed followed suit and they celebrated together with their team-mates.

The Argus: Hughton is the ideal manager to channel any frustration residue felt by Hemed following the rumpus with Israel in the right direction for Albion.

He has already played a key role with goals like that clincher against Leeds, a winner and equaliser from the spot at Burton and Fulham, the only goal at home to Cardiff, a last-gasp leveller at Brentford.

Eleven of Hemed's goals last season came in the last three months of the season. He still has a big part to play.

It will continue to be primarily a case of either or during the run-in. Murray and Hemed are too similar to operate together effectively.

Having either of them to pounce from the bench once games have opened up and the other has done the donkey work is a comforting state of affairs for Hughton and Albion.